With Peacemaker arriving on HBO Max on Thursday the 13th, audiences everywhere are wondering what time they can log on to the service to watch. The first three episodes of the John Cena-led series will be available, following up on the peace-loving vigilante’s 2021 introduction to the DCEU in The Suicide Squad. Like that movie, the HBO Max original show is executive produced, created, and written by James Gunn, who also served as the director for five out of eight episodes.
There is a slight paradox at the heart of Peacemaker’s title character; his goal is to achieve peace but he is willing to go to extremely violent lengths in service of that end. Known by the civilian name of Christopher Smith, the mercenary was originally the intellectual property of Charlton Comics before being acquired by DC in the late 80s. Although the character has no super-human abilities, he is very strong and expertly skilled in both marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat.
HBO Max has not made an announcement about an exact time when the first three episodes of Peacemaker will drop on January 13. If the show follows the pattern of previous premieres on the service, it will likely be available at 3 am ET. This means that Pacific coast viewers can watch the show at midnight PT, and UK audiences at 8 am GMT. Despite these early morning release times, DC die-hards will either stay awake until the release or set alarms to wake up on time for it.
John Cena’s performance as the ruthless vigilante was well-received by both audiences and critics, mixing his intensity as a former WWE wrestler with dead-pan comedy to great effect. The HBO Max series was announced prior to the release of The Suicide Squad, in which Peacemaker appeared to die towards the end of the movie. However, despite the explosive end to The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker was actually revealed to have survived in a post-credits scene.
The series will follow Peacemaker as he joins another team tasked with the mission of saving the world. The trailer for the series revealed that Peacemaker will introduce a pet sidekick for the mercenary, a bald eagle named Eagly. This and early clips from the show indicate that the series will utilize the same irreverent, on-the-nose humor James Gunn brought to The Suicide Squad. After the premiere of the initial three episodes, one new episode will be released weekly on Thursdays until the finale in mid-February.
Peacemaker premieres on January 13, with new episodes released on Thursdays.
